MUSICALS.
This is all 
feverbeats's fault. For the record. LET'S SEE IF WE CAN MAKE IT A MEME.
10. Jersey Boys
So my aunt gave us tickets to Jersey Boys for Christmas? I did not expect to like it like at all. I DON'T KNOW WHY. It is documentary-style musical about the rags-to-riches-to-alcoholism story of a bunch of idiot boys from Jersey who are get involved in stupid mob shit and sometimes are full of misplaced loyalty and don't really know how to be famous properly! It ends with a reunion show at the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame! THESE ARE ALL THINGS I LOVE.
Here is the ending, by which point I will have you know I was sobbing. (London cast, because I can't find one of the Toronto cast with not-terrible video quality)
9. The Lion King
I SAW THIS TWIIICE. Because Toronto is the best, that's why. I just... The way they MOVE. The costumes that are sometimes more puppet than clothes. The characters ARE animals, not just, y'know, actors in creepy-ass cat suits. It is the CAT HAMLET, you guys! Disney made a movie that was HAMLET WITH CATS and then they MADE IT INTO A BROADWAY SHOW. How can you not love that?
Here is Morning Report, which is a song that was cut from the film, and then recycled into the Broadway show, and then later animated and re-inserted into the film on DVD.
8. Rent
I KNOW, I KNOW. When the movie came out all my friends were like "OMG RENT!" and I was like "Whatever, I am a Srs Sondheim Fan, I don't caaare." And then I tripped and fell and now I literally cannot hear Rent songs without singing along. (Now you know my really very silly weakness.) I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED.
I hate watching Rent with people who take it Deadly Seriously because uh, I take NOTHING seriously? So I am inappropriately sarcastic during some of the sad parts, because I am used to watching it with people who are used to me? And then if they ARE the Serious Business sort of Renthead they get offended. THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME MORE THAN ONCE.
I wanted to play continue the Sir Not Appearing In This Film song theme, and post Goodbye Love<, which is basically a guide on What Not To Do At Funerals. (THEY ARE ALL SUCH SELF-CENTERED ASSHOLES I LOVE THEM.) BUT the only version I could find had a Roger who apparently decided that when he couldn't hit the note SHOUTING was an acceptable substitute. So have some angry lesbians instead: Take Me Or Leave Me. (I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS SONG. *___*)
7. The Drowsy Chaperone
IF YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS YOU ARE NOT SURPRISED THAT I LIKE IT.
So Don McKellar and Bob Martin and Lisa Lambert invented a jokey bawdy '40s musical for Bob Martin's stag party. And then they turned it into a for real musical, which is about a dude (The Man In The Chair) watching a bawdy '40s musical. IT IS SURPRISINGLY GOOD GIVEN THAT IT IS //RIDICULOUS.//
(I will note that this is sort of cheating, I have not actually SEEN this show. But I've watched what I can find on th'internets, and I have the soundtrack album. This totally counts.)
This video talks a lot about how ridiculous the show is, and explains the "plot" better than I could. I genuinely think this song is adorable. Accident Waiting To Happen.
6. Sweeney Todd
I SORT OF HATE THAT THE FILM EXISTS, because everyone is like "Well of course you like that, you are the World's Biggest Tim Burton Fan." BUT I LIKED IT BEFORE THAT OKAY. It is a musical about CANNIBALISM. The fact that this even exists makes me inordinately happy.
But it is also CLEVER. Like, a show about a serial killer could have been sort of gimicky like the film, but it's NOT. It is about terrible horrible people doing terrible horrible things, but the way the story's told is... God, I don't even know what I'm trying to get at so I will stop this sentence here.
Here is the 1982 version of Worst Pies In London, because as much as I love Helena Bonham Carter, she is not and will never be Angela Lansbury.
5. Cabaret
Why is everything I like so distressing?! It starts out with happy singy-dancy racy cabaret numbers and shenanigans, and then by the time you get to the end there are Nazis everywhere.
Now, I love the film. I do. But I do not understand some of the changes. Sally is inexplicably American! ALL the character songs are gone! WHY DID THEY DO THESE THINGS.
I don't really know what else I have to say about Cabaret? OH NO THAT'S A LIE. See, one of the main reasons I love this show so much? I'm a contralto. Which effectively means that the only women's parts I can consistently sing are a) villains or b) mothers/old ladies. Sally is one of the exceptions! She is the STAR! (This may seem like sort of a stupid petty reason to love a show, but seriously, my vocal teacher tried to force my voice to go soprano. I had to sing Good Ship Lollipop. It was traumatic.)
Don't Tell Mama is the song that was replaced with Mein Herr in the film, sung here by a young Judi Dench (in 1968). Liza? Liza who?
4. Nightmare Before Christmas
SHUSH, IF SCOTT CAN HAVE LABYRINTH ON HIS LIST, THIS CAN BE ON MINE. (Basically ever since I saw the Lion King the first time I have wanted them to adapt this as a stage show. If they can do lions they can do skeletons dammit!)
My Thoughts have been recorded already here, I shan't be bothered to repeat them.
Have the demo version of Oogie Boogie's Song, because Danny Elfman's Cab Calloway impression will never not be my favourite thing.
3. Rose Gypsy
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This is a show about a stripper, based on a true story! Louise was pushed around by her stage-mom-diva mother, until she saw Vaudeville was dead and ditched her mom to become a world-famous burlesque artist. But IMNSHO she is not the star, despite having her name in the title.
BECAUSE ROSE. ROSE ROSE ROSE. I FUCKING LOVE HER. The non-Rose parts of this show actually sort of bore me, though? I feel sort of bad about that. I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS, LOUISE. I even more don't care about June. But OH MY GOD ROSE. She is AMAZING. (Also her songs are in my range, which is a bonus).
(ROSE.)
Predictably, the song I am linking is Rose's Turn. (Bernadette Peters. Because I am a little bit in love with Bernadette Peters, shh.)
2. Into The Woods
POSTMODERN FAIRYTALE CROSSOVER MUSICAL FTW. (That is the good thing about the aforementioned vocal teacher, she did lend me her copy of the 1991 TV version of Into The Woods.) I just-- I do not even have the words. I LOVE THIS SHOWWWW. (It is the only Sondheim I have seen for real. Student production.)
The greatest thing about Into The Woods is that happy-ever-after comes at the end.... Of act one. Act two is about all the messy, complicated things that happen at the end of the story. (Let me just say, there is a reason there is a version of the show for high school students that only includes act one.) There are complex moral dillemas! The Witch might actually be right! They feed the narrator to the giant. As soon as people figure things out they die.
I want to link to basically EVERY SONG. Umm... We don't need MORE Bernadette Peters Playing A Sondheim's Mommy Issues Character, so basically anything the Witch sings is out... Ah! Here, have Your Fault, in which everybody argues frantically about who to blame for all their problems!
1. My Fair Lady!
YOU ARE TOTALLY SHOCKED.
I am way, way too tired to talk about this show right now. Well actually, I am too tired to STOP talking about this show once I get started. It is a musical about class and gender and language and how they intersect! Everybody in it is amazing, I genuinely love every character. Even the ones you are probably not supposed to. They are all glorious assholes! ESPECIALLY HIGGINS. HIGGINS IS A JERK. But really the only one who is not a complete mess is Mrs. Higgins. I LOVE THEM ALL.
I want to link to EVERY SONG here too. At random I am going to pick Show Me, because words are stupid and Eliza is amazing and Freddy is slightly confused and they are my FAVOURITE. Everybody is my favourite. I may have mentioned.
(For the record I can be way cleverer than this about this show. I have written papers on it and everything. It's just, if I start talking about it on a deeper level than this I will be up all night and I have to work in the morning.)
feverbeats's fault. For the record. LET'S SEE IF WE CAN MAKE IT A MEME.
10. Jersey Boys
So my aunt gave us tickets to Jersey Boys for Christmas? I did not expect to like it like at all. I DON'T KNOW WHY. It is documentary-style musical about the rags-to-riches-to-alcoholism story of a bunch of idiot boys from Jersey who are get involved in stupid mob shit and sometimes are full of misplaced loyalty and don't really know how to be famous properly! It ends with a reunion show at the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame! THESE ARE ALL THINGS I LOVE.
Here is the ending, by which point I will have you know I was sobbing. (London cast, because I can't find one of the Toronto cast with not-terrible video quality)
9. The Lion King
I SAW THIS TWIIICE. Because Toronto is the best, that's why. I just... The way they MOVE. The costumes that are sometimes more puppet than clothes. The characters ARE animals, not just, y'know, actors in creepy-ass cat suits. It is the CAT HAMLET, you guys! Disney made a movie that was HAMLET WITH CATS and then they MADE IT INTO A BROADWAY SHOW. How can you not love that?
Here is Morning Report, which is a song that was cut from the film, and then recycled into the Broadway show, and then later animated and re-inserted into the film on DVD.
8. Rent
I KNOW, I KNOW. When the movie came out all my friends were like "OMG RENT!" and I was like "Whatever, I am a Srs Sondheim Fan, I don't caaare." And then I tripped and fell and now I literally cannot hear Rent songs without singing along. (Now you know my really very silly weakness.) I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED.
I hate watching Rent with people who take it Deadly Seriously because uh, I take NOTHING seriously? So I am inappropriately sarcastic during some of the sad parts, because I am used to watching it with people who are used to me? And then if they ARE the Serious Business sort of Renthead they get offended. THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME MORE THAN ONCE.
I wanted to play continue the Sir Not Appearing In This Film song theme, and post Goodbye Love<, which is basically a guide on What Not To Do At Funerals. (THEY ARE ALL SUCH SELF-CENTERED ASSHOLES I LOVE THEM.) BUT the only version I could find had a Roger who apparently decided that when he couldn't hit the note SHOUTING was an acceptable substitute. So have some angry lesbians instead: Take Me Or Leave Me. (I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS SONG. *___*)
7. The Drowsy Chaperone
IF YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS YOU ARE NOT SURPRISED THAT I LIKE IT.
So Don McKellar and Bob Martin and Lisa Lambert invented a jokey bawdy '40s musical for Bob Martin's stag party. And then they turned it into a for real musical, which is about a dude (The Man In The Chair) watching a bawdy '40s musical. IT IS SURPRISINGLY GOOD GIVEN THAT IT IS //RIDICULOUS.//
(I will note that this is sort of cheating, I have not actually SEEN this show. But I've watched what I can find on th'internets, and I have the soundtrack album. This totally counts.)
This video talks a lot about how ridiculous the show is, and explains the "plot" better than I could. I genuinely think this song is adorable. Accident Waiting To Happen.
6. Sweeney Todd
I SORT OF HATE THAT THE FILM EXISTS, because everyone is like "Well of course you like that, you are the World's Biggest Tim Burton Fan." BUT I LIKED IT BEFORE THAT OKAY. It is a musical about CANNIBALISM. The fact that this even exists makes me inordinately happy.
But it is also CLEVER. Like, a show about a serial killer could have been sort of gimicky like the film, but it's NOT. It is about terrible horrible people doing terrible horrible things, but the way the story's told is... God, I don't even know what I'm trying to get at so I will stop this sentence here.
Here is the 1982 version of Worst Pies In London, because as much as I love Helena Bonham Carter, she is not and will never be Angela Lansbury.
5. Cabaret
Why is everything I like so distressing?! It starts out with happy singy-dancy racy cabaret numbers and shenanigans, and then by the time you get to the end there are Nazis everywhere.
Now, I love the film. I do. But I do not understand some of the changes. Sally is inexplicably American! ALL the character songs are gone! WHY DID THEY DO THESE THINGS.
I don't really know what else I have to say about Cabaret? OH NO THAT'S A LIE. See, one of the main reasons I love this show so much? I'm a contralto. Which effectively means that the only women's parts I can consistently sing are a) villains or b) mothers/old ladies. Sally is one of the exceptions! She is the STAR! (This may seem like sort of a stupid petty reason to love a show, but seriously, my vocal teacher tried to force my voice to go soprano. I had to sing Good Ship Lollipop. It was traumatic.)
Don't Tell Mama is the song that was replaced with Mein Herr in the film, sung here by a young Judi Dench (in 1968). Liza? Liza who?
4. Nightmare Before Christmas
SHUSH, IF SCOTT CAN HAVE LABYRINTH ON HIS LIST, THIS CAN BE ON MINE. (Basically ever since I saw the Lion King the first time I have wanted them to adapt this as a stage show. If they can do lions they can do skeletons dammit!)
My Thoughts have been recorded already here, I shan't be bothered to repeat them.
Have the demo version of Oogie Boogie's Song, because Danny Elfman's Cab Calloway impression will never not be my favourite thing.
3. Rose Gypsy
This is a show about a stripper, based on a true story! Louise was pushed around by her stage-mom-diva mother, until she saw Vaudeville was dead and ditched her mom to become a world-famous burlesque artist. But IMNSHO she is not the star, despite having her name in the title.
BECAUSE ROSE. ROSE ROSE ROSE. I FUCKING LOVE HER. The non-Rose parts of this show actually sort of bore me, though? I feel sort of bad about that. I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS, LOUISE. I even more don't care about June. But OH MY GOD ROSE. She is AMAZING. (Also her songs are in my range, which is a bonus).
(ROSE.)
Predictably, the song I am linking is Rose's Turn. (Bernadette Peters. Because I am a little bit in love with Bernadette Peters, shh.)
2. Into The Woods
POSTMODERN FAIRYTALE CROSSOVER MUSICAL FTW. (That is the good thing about the aforementioned vocal teacher, she did lend me her copy of the 1991 TV version of Into The Woods.) I just-- I do not even have the words. I LOVE THIS SHOWWWW. (It is the only Sondheim I have seen for real. Student production.)
The greatest thing about Into The Woods is that happy-ever-after comes at the end.... Of act one. Act two is about all the messy, complicated things that happen at the end of the story. (Let me just say, there is a reason there is a version of the show for high school students that only includes act one.) There are complex moral dillemas! The Witch might actually be right! They feed the narrator to the giant. As soon as people figure things out they die.
I want to link to basically EVERY SONG. Umm... We don't need MORE Bernadette Peters Playing A Sondheim's Mommy Issues Character, so basically anything the Witch sings is out... Ah! Here, have Your Fault, in which everybody argues frantically about who to blame for all their problems!
1. My Fair Lady!
YOU ARE TOTALLY SHOCKED.
I am way, way too tired to talk about this show right now. Well actually, I am too tired to STOP talking about this show once I get started. It is a musical about class and gender and language and how they intersect! Everybody in it is amazing, I genuinely love every character. Even the ones you are probably not supposed to. They are all glorious assholes! ESPECIALLY HIGGINS. HIGGINS IS A JERK. But really the only one who is not a complete mess is Mrs. Higgins. I LOVE THEM ALL.
I want to link to EVERY SONG here too. At random I am going to pick Show Me, because words are stupid and Eliza is amazing and Freddy is slightly confused and they are my FAVOURITE. Everybody is my favourite. I may have mentioned.
(For the record I can be way cleverer than this about this show. I have written papers on it and everything. It's just, if I start talking about it on a deeper level than this I will be up all night and I have to work in the morning.)